My reality is more powerful than reality. I am familiar with the challenges that blacks have faced in America; literacy tests to vote, denial of education and mental degrading. However, many have persevered in these circumstances. What I did not realize is that I have many heroes in my family who excelled despite the circumstances; one of which is my great grandmother who inspires me.
Antee Anita Lawson, was born in 1918, has experienced many of the issue’s I learned about in history regarding blacks, African Americans, Negroes or whatever labels blacks received through the years. She always said just call me by my given name.
Furthermore, through extensive conversation I have learned many things about MaTee (as she is affectionately called). During my Fifth grade voting project, she advised me that she cast her first presidential vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt, but she had to take a literacy test to prove she was smart enough to vote; by counting the marbles in the jar. Moreover, she has also met Robert Kennedy as he campaigned for President; with a picture to frame the event. She survived through the great depression by growing her own food, along…show more content… She said not all folks are bad, you have to find the right one. A white farmer sold her 60 acres of land in the 50’s. She denied herself everything to pay off the farm in 5 years. Consequently, she sold lots of lands to friends and family who also wanted to own their own homes. Here hands soiled and brittle through manual laborer, until she was able to advance her skills. MaTee and other ladies in the community were offered the opportunity to earn a college degree in teaching. She rode the train from Hancock County to Chatham county weekly for 2 years, with my grandfather in tow, to earn her degree from the Georgia Teacher’s college; now Savannah State
